Eyewitness Jayesh Patel shares details, says, "was 500--600 metres away when the incident took place, saw massive smoke in the sky. When I reached there, I saw around 15,000 people and fire engines " pic.twitter.com/KSmZSbJFhf

— NDTV (@ndtv) June 12, 2025

An Air India flight bound for London’s Gatwick airport with 242 passengers onboard crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon.

‘Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident today, 12 June 2025. At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest,’ Air India said in a statement on ‘X’.

According to Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Boeing B787 aircraft took off at 1:38 pm and crashed within five minutes near the Meghaninagar area, close to the Ahmedabad airport.

‘This is a developing situation. The flight took off at 1:38 pm and went down shortly after departure,’ Kidwai confirmed.

The Ahmedabad airport has been temporarily shut down while emergency services, including fire brigades and ambulances, have been rushed to the crash site.

Initial visuals shared by news agency PTI showed thick black smoke billowing into the sky from what appeared to be near the airport perimeter, indicating a significant fire post-impact.

The flight was operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, scheduled to fly from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, London. 

Of the 232 passengers, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals.

As of now, details regarding the number of casualties, or survivors have not been officially confirmed.

An official statement from Air India or the Civil Aviation Ministry is awaited. 

Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident and are working to ascertain the cause of the crash.

More details awaited...